The above table serves as a snapshot of the typical factors that impact ridership, and illustrates the differences which exist between the current month and the same month in the previous year. If a change occurred, it is categorized to represent a (typically) positive, negative or neutral impact on ridership.More details on the observed impacts are noted in the description of ridership results below. ​

​Local Network Overview

Local Bus

Monthly Total

There were 4,832,062 boardings in May 2016 on local bus service. This is an increase of 334,833 boardings (or 7 percent increase) compared to May 2015. There were several factors that contributed to a ridership gain. The favorable calendar mix in May 2016 of one additional weekday and one fewer Saturday relative to the previous year contributed to the ridership gain. Also, there was significant rainfall on and around the Memorial Day weekend in May 2015. This resulted in massive flooding throughout the METRO service area causing detours and service suspension on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 and multiple rail shut-downs. Although select area-specific rainfall occurred on more individual days in May 2016 than in May 2015, the overall impact on ridership was significantly less.

​Light Rail

Monthly Total

There were 1,461,933 boardings on all three light rail lines in May 2016. This is an increase of 319,974 boardings (or 28 percent increase) over May 2015. METRO opened the Green and Purple rail lines and improved weekday frequency on the north line extension of the Red Line effective May 23, 2015. As a result, there was a significant ridership increase year-over-year. There was a 9% increase in ridership on the Red Line during the four days of the Off Shore Technology Conference held on May 2 – 5, 2016. While this was an increase relative to May 2015, this is the smallest year-over-year ridership increase during OTC for the last several years.

Average Daily Ridership: Weekday / Saturday / Sunday

Average daily ridership on Weekday, Saturday, and Sunday all increased in 2016 compared to 2015. The increases are largely due to three factors: the opening of the Green and Purple lines in May 2015; the increase of service on the Red line in May 2015 (6 minute service on North Line portion); and the bus-rail interface (a component of the New Bus Network).

Total Local Network

Monthly Total

Local network ridership increased in 2016 compared to the previous year by 654,807 boardings (an increase of 12 percent) due to the factors noted earlier.

Average Daily Ridership: Weekday / Saturday / Sunday

Average daily ridership increased on Weekday, Saturday, and Sunday on the local network, by 4 percent, 9 percent, and 29 percent, respectively. This is the highest year-over-year growth on Saturday since New Bus Network implementation. Saturday and Sunday experienced large increases in 2016 compared to 2015 due to increased service levels on the weekend in the New Bus Network, as well as other factors noted earlier.

​Commuter Network Overview

Park & Ride

Monthly Total

There were 690,964 Park & Ride boardings in May 2016 compared to 636,987 boardings in May 2015, an increase of 53,977 boardings (or a gain of 8 percent). This increase in total boardings is primarily due to the calendar mix (May 2016 had one more day of Park & Ride service compared to May 2015).

Average Daily Ridership: Weekday

Average weekday ridership in May 2016 was 33,425 boardings, a decrease of 101 boardings compared to May 2015 (less than one percent loss).

Entire Network Summary

Monthly Total

Ridership on the entire fixed-route network in May 2016 increased by slightly more than 11 percent compared to the previous year. Relevant factors were noted earlier and are included in the table above.

Average Daily Ridership: Weekday / Saturday / Sunday

Average daily ridership for the entire fixed-route network increased on Weekday, Saturday, and Sunday, with the weekend showing large gains due to increased service levels on local bus and a more robust light rail network as compared to last year.